ELR Citation: 43 ELR 20250
No(s). A136873 (Cal. Ct. App. 4th Dist. Nov 7, 2013)

A California appellate court, in an unpublished opinion, dismissed residents' lawsuit challenging a city's decision not to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for a proposed mixed-use commercial and residential project. The residents maintained that an EIR was required because preexisting contamination on the site—groundwater contamination and a UST—posed health risks to the project's construction workers and future residents. But even if health risks confined to a project's construction workers and future residents could ever trigger CEQA review, the residents failed to identify substantial evidence in the record to create a fair argument that the disturbance of contaminated soil may have a significant effect on the environment.